Preparation

In a 5-quart kettle simmer ham hock in 3 quarts water, covered, 1 hour. Add beans, onion, and bay leaf and simmer, uncovered, 1 hour, or until beans are just tender. Stir in tomatoes with juice, salt, and remaining cup water and simmer soup 45 minutes, or until beans are tender. Soup may be made 1 day ahead, cooled completely, and chilled, covered.

Remove ham hock and reserve for another use. Discard bay leaf and stir in lime juice to taste. Divide soup among 8 bowls and garnish with lime slices.

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Reviews

I have heard it is anathema to add tomatoes to black bean soup. I have never had it this way so I have trepidations. I bought pork hocks, bot ham. Any way to ad a smoky flavor? Liquid smoke? also??? embarrased to admit. I hate citrus. Does the lime add stuff without TASTING like sitrus? If possible? I could use an answer. This is on my list to make in 3 days, & this is the recipe I choose among hundreds I have looked at... Think Love

My husband called it the best soup ever, so I guess it must be pretty good! It definitely has some interesting flavors and is very filling.
I used some stock I already had on hand and boiled with beans and onions for an hour before adding some salsa, salt, and lime juice. I think the combination of tomato and lime is really nice with the beans.

I have made this about 10 times...my 8 year old calls it the "best soup ever"...considering my Mother-In-Law makes homemade soup 2X per week...that was enough incentive for me.
Last time I pan fried strips of corn tortillas and topped the soup off with it...crunchy and yummy.

In my opinion this recipe still lacks a few things, although it's basically okay. I added 2 cloves, a teaspoon cumin seeds, a dash of cayenne, and some fresh cilantro. I also substituted bacon for the ham hock. The lime juice is very good - it freshens up the otherwise rather musty taste of the black beans.

I few small changes made this recipe better.
I have made variations of this, and this is what
I prefer. The ham hock is the way to go, but sometimes, I just use 3/4 bacon instead if I am lazy. I make a double recipe..
Use fresh, preferably creole tomatoes, instead of canned.. added 20 min beforefinished. I add the cilanto at this time as well.. I use 1 bunch for a double recipe. I generally use 1-3 hot red peppers to give it some more color.. varies by strength of peppers.. 2 large sweet onions .. 1 bulb garlic.. 1 bunch celery and 1lb carrots chopped fine. I generally add a little more salt. About 15 min before it is finished, i usually crush some of the black beans to thicken the broth ala red beans and rice. The lime juice is nice, and so is a nice dollip of sour cream.
I generally add more spice with tabasco as needed.. and allow guests to add there own limes at end.. I quarter Key Limes for this purpose. I generally place some cheese, such as a good sharp cheedar to go in as guests desire.
great soup :)

We used less liquids and transformed this soup into a marvelous "sauce" to serve over polenta (try POLENTA WITH BACON AND SAGE on Epicurious)Omit extra cup of water. Use a 14 1/2 oz can of diced tomatoes with mild chilies and 2 large or 8 Roma tomatoes diced or pureed. 2 bay leaves and if you have, 1 scored lime leaf. Add 1/2 tsp of cumin and 1-2 TBSP sherry. Remove ham hocks. Cook down to desired thickness. Optional: minced cilantro to taste. Or add a little bit of chocolate for a delicious mole sauce.

Without the lime, this soup is very bland. I added a little cilantro, but next time I will add sauteed veggies, as suggested by another reviewer and probably double the bay. Some other spices would probably help - like cayenne. This is a good recipe but needs a little spicing up.

This soup got rave reviews - from people who did not even like black beans - such as "this is actually the best soup I've ever had in my life". Keep in mind that the lime squeezed in right before you eat changes the flavor completely. V. Imp. to add this. It goes great with gin & tonics & lime as well as tortillas / guac.

Every year since it was published I've made this recipe for lunch on New Year's Day. It also freezes well. We've served it several times to guests and they have really enjoyed the soup. As we are vegetarian, I don't use the ham, and I've cut the amount of water to about 2 qts. of water or vegetable broth. Try laying a thin slice of lime slit nearly to center, given a half twist, gently on top of the soup to make a great presention when brought to table. It's a very good recipe.

You must add some onion, carrot, garlic and a little celery sauteed, prior to adding the rest of the stuff. Without it, this is plain. I used tomatoes with jalapeno's which added a terrific little zip. More cumin, and a little mexican oregano and marjoram. THEN it's a real winner.

I used a smoked ham shank. Simmered the shank about an hour then added rest of the ingredients (two cans of black beans instead of dried) and simmered again for about 2 more hours. Added the ham from the cooked shank to the soup, left out the lime juice (acidic enough) and served with sour cream. Yummy!

We used canned black beans, as suggested by another reviewer. It worked really well. We took the ham off of the hamhocks and added it to the soup. We also added a bit of red pepper flakes to compliment the lime juice.

The flavor was delicious. But next time I will use...god forbid...canned beans as a time saver. The beans were a bit chewy having cooked for the alloted amount of time. So I had to cook it for about 45 minutes longer. But do try this soup. It had a great flavor.